Why the Next Gen will be another Golden Age of Gaming

I think the vast majority of gamers would call the 16-bit age of gaming the best era of gaming. Some of that might be blind nostalgia, but I can’t refute it, myself. That period was SO GOOD for our hobby. There was tons of innovation and refinement. The graphics not only hold up, but still look good.

There is a huge cornucopia of classics that come from this time, many that are still regarded as the best in their franchises, like “Super Metroid” or “Final Fantasy VI”.

Hardcore fanaticism was at its peak during this time, as well. You were either on Team Mario or Team Sonic and you had to defend your choice by using the made up jargon you heard on commercials.

“Well, the Super Nintendo has Mode-7, which scales environ…”

Too bad M$ and Sony don’t pull shit like Sega used to. Those were the days!

“Fuck you. Blast Processing.”

“But, the Super Nintendo has a larger color palette than the Genesis and…”

“Blast Processing, bro.”

“But, what about the superior audio…”

“Hold on! Shh…do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“It’s the sound of the Blast Processing of my Genesis making your Super PRETENDO its bitch! Fuck yeah!”

Word for word, that was a real conversation that was occurring between 8-year olds on every single playground at the time.

It was this magic era where technology met design met true competition, and gamers came out on top. No generation before or since was ever the same… until now.

We are at the cusp of a gaming generation that is going to rival the 16-bit era.

I know, you might be thinking that the Wii U hasn’t exactly been the strongest representative for our new generation. Also, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One aren’t even OUT yet, so why would I be making such baseless assumptions?

Well, because I CAN, and I’m recognizing some interesting tells. Things that aren’t immediately obvious, but have the potential to be signs for what’s to come.

People, we’re about to drown in gaming awesomeness.

First, let’s get the most evident reason out of the way. There are two consoles that aren’t even out yet that are already in a full blown console war, with diehard fans to back either one up. And, just like between our beloved SNES and Genesis, one of them is perceived to be better in every single way, while the other is the scrappy underdog.

Sure, we already have the Wii U, and it’s fine. We’re going to see some neat stuff out of it, so let’s liken it to the Turbografx-16 or the Neo-Geo. It’s the wild card. Though, I don’t think Nintendo is going fade away into obscurity, it’s just not going to dominate the way it did the previous generation with the Wii.

I already see the parallels between the console war of our current generation and the great Nintendo/Sega war. While people may not be using made up marketing terms, people are throwing words and phrases out there, with no real understanding of what they might mean for their overall gaming experience.

They often speak of the PS4’s DDR5 ram versus the DDR3 present in the One or the fact that the One is struggling to run a lot of games at 1080p, while the PS4 isn’t currently having any issues. These are real facts, but the average gamer throws them out there because it’s something that they heard. If Sony had named their architecture “Steampunk Cannon Computing”, everyone would still be using it like it meant something to them. That’s how you know we’re onto something epic!

More importantly, Sony dropped the gauntlet, smacked Microsoft in the face, and took this war to the streets, unifying gamers behind its more consumer-friendly policies. Yes, Microsoft ended up taking back almost EVERYTHING that was anti-consumer about the One, but the damage was already done. Everyone has already rallied behind Sony because they feel they’re being represented by a company that understands the business of games better and will produce a product that will serve gamers better over the years.

Sony has earned gamer trust… and that puts them squarely in the lead. The inequality of the situation means the competition should be more fierce, which will hopefully result in better games.

Of course, Microsoft needs to stay in the race for this to occur. It’s been reported that they’ve taken billions in losses from the Xbox division, so let’s hope they don’t pull a Sega and drop out of the console business early.

Discussion (4)

3 pages and not a single mention of the 900 lb. gorilla in the room : PC. Steam’s making the moves they need to to hang with the “next gen” consoles in the living room, and my PC has been capable of destroying “next gen” capabilities for over three years now. Factor in the cost of games, and Oculus Rift support, and the Steam controller, and we have a recipe for Steam to be competetive, if not come out on top.

At the very least, it deserved a mention. I think you might be surprised at what 2014 brings for gamers.

I fully understand that I left PC gaming out of the picture, but there is a very good reason for that.

PC gaming has ALWAYS been in the picture and it has always been more technologically advanced than consoles. That will never change. However, PC gaming operates in the background of the game industry, reserved for folks that are more tech savvy and hardcore.

This isn’t going to change.

Valve said themselves that Steam Machines aren’t geared towards people who aren’t PC gamers. They’re very much geared towards people who are already PC gamers. So, they’re not attempting, at least not yet, to compete with consoles.

Even though consoles are always a bit behind in tech, they are the things that popularize aspects of gaming that PCs have been doing for years and bring them into the market for everyone to enjoy.

PC gaming is absolutely important and consoles need PC gaming, but PC gaming needs consoles, as well. Also, even though PC gaming gets a lot of the great games that consoles get, there are also a ton of exclusives they miss out on.

I wasn’t trying to leave PC gaming out, I just think the industry benefits more from a strong console scene.

I totally agree and I can see the same parallels you are drawing here in the article. PC may have had games during the era of the NES and Genesis, but it was consoles that created “gamers” as they exist today. That idea of a computer whose sole function was to play games was what attracted kids, teens and adults in the first place. Yes, as consoles moved into the 16 and 32 bit era PC had evolved it’s games with titles like Ultima and Wing Commander, then moved on to your Fallout and Balder’s Gate and so on, but PC was-and still is-a machine that is intended for a multitude of uses that just happens to include playing video games. It just doesn’t have the same sort of draw to majority of the gaming community.

Right, I think PC’s main gamer draw is almost exclusive to the hardcore gamer community. I think the platform is absolutely marvelous for playing games, as well as customizing them (Though modding games is an entire article by itself and I’m not always fond of the practice.), but it’s a gated community filled with far too many elitists and a barrier of entry that requires consumers to actually know stuff about how to properly use, maintain, and upgrade their machine.

Consoles don’t require this and that’s why I think they’re more important for furthering gaming. They’re not necessarily the best way to play, but they’re what drives the industry forward.

PCs require fiddling and some people love that stuff, but the average consumer doesn’t. Which is why the iPhone dominates over core Android devices (Not cheap throwaways), and why more consumers game on consoles than PCs.